Starter bar for a continuous casting plant

ABSTRACT

A starter bar for a continuous casting plant in which the body of the bar is provided with grooves or recesses in which resilient means are positioned for forcing friction or gripper plates beyond the surface of the starter bar and the plates and the surface of the starter bar body opposite the plates may be coated with a material of a higher coefficient of friction than the coefficient of friction of the material of the starter bar. The resilient means acting on the plate develops a force which ensures friction between the plates and the body of the bar and the pulling device respectively which will exceed the force of resistance to the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;pulling out&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; of an ingot from the mold.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Georgy Lukich Khimich ul. Lenina, 53, kv. 92;

Vitaly Maximovich Niskovskikh, ul. Festival na ya, 2 1, kv. 60; B o fis Ya1Eov1evich Orlov, ul. Krasnykh partizan, 3, kv. 4, all of 3,266,104 8/ 1966 Foldessy et a1. 164/274 3,521,697 7/1970 Niskovskilth et a1.v 164/274 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,061,039 7/1959 Germany .1 164/274 SB 729,359 5/1955 Great Britain 164/274 SB 873,973 8/1961 Great Britain 164/274 SB Primary Examiner-R. Spencer Annear Attorney-Holman & Stern ABSTRACT: A starter bar for a continuous casting plant in which the body of the bar is provided with grooves or recesses in which resilient means are positioned for forcing friction or gripper plates beyond the surface of the starter bar and the plates and the surface of the starter bar body opposite the plates may be coated with a material of a higher coefficient of friction than the coefficient of friction of the material of the starter bar. The resilient means acting on the plate develops a force which ensures friction between the plates and the body of the bar and the pulling device respectively which will exceed the force of resistance to the pulling out of an ingot from the mold.

STARTER BAR FOR A CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT This application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Ser. No. 619,403 filed Feb. 28, 1967.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the metallurgical industry and more particularly to starter bars for use in plants for the continuous casting of metal such as, for example, steel.

Starter bars are known in the art which are of rectangular cross section and are approximately 12 to 15 meters in length with such bars being employed in plants for the continuous casting of steel. The bars are located between a mold and a device for pulling the bars and ingot. However, such starter bars do not ensure a satisfactory drawing out of the ingot since the smooth metal surfaces of the pulling device slip over the smooth metal surfaces of the starter bar. In addition, gaps also form in the contact areas between the surfaces in view of the fact that the starter bar and the ingot possess different cross sections.

A salient object of the present invention is to provide a starter bar which will overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally, the above and other important objects of the invcntion are accomplished in that the body of the starter bar is provided with resilient means for acting on the plates associated therewith for developing a force for ensuring friction between the plates and the body of the bar and the pulling device respectively, with such force exceeding the force of resistance to the pulling out of an ingot from the mold.

More specifically, the starter bar includes a body portion provided with grooves, plates positioned in the grooves capable of movement in a direction transverse with respect to the body of the starter bar, a material possessing a higher coefficient of friction, as compared with the coefficient of friction of material of the body of the bar, coating theouter surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the bar opposite the plates and spring means in each groove biased at one end against the inner face of the plate and at the opposite end against the base of the groove, with such spring means pressing the plates against the surface of the pulling device whereby the coated surfaces of the plates and the body fit tightly to the pulling device.

The material coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the starter bar opposite the plates is of a rubber type such as ordinary vulcanized commercial sheet rubber employed for making gaskets and packing.

By virtue of the present invention, a reliable contact between the starter bar and the surface of the pulling device is ensured and in addition the starter bar can be of lesser length than those heretofore employed approximately 3 meters thereby permitting the bar to be used in less spacious plants for the continuous casting of steel.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed specification and annexed drawings and in which drawings:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The starter bar includes a body 1 of suitable material having a plurality of grooves or recesses 6 extending transversely of the bar and a plate 2 is inserted into each recess 6. Resilient means such as coil springs 3 are located in each groove 6 with each spring being biased at one end against the inner face of the plate 2 and at the other end against the base of the groove. Each coil spring 3 is secured in place by means of a nut and bolt assembly 4 as clearly depicted in FIG. 3.

As clearly illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the outer 'surface of each plate 2 and the surface of the bar 1 opposite the plate are coated with material 7 and 8 respectively of a higher coefficient of friction as compared with the coefficient of friction of the material of the starter bar 1. More'specifically, the material 7, 8 is of rubber type such as ordinary vulcanized commercial sheet rubber employed for making gaskets and packing. By virtue of the action of the coil springs 3, the plates 2 protrude or extend beyond the surface of the bar 1 and as a consequence, the plates 2 and the portions of the bar 1 opposite the plates 2 which are coated with rubber fit tightly in a pulling device.

The operation of the starter bar in plant for the continuous casting of steel is as follows:

The end of the starter bar I is inserted into the discharge aperture of the mold and the mold is then filled with molten metal. The plates 2 of the bar 1, at this moment, are tightly adjusted by the coil springs 3 against the surface of the pulling device of the plant. The compression of the springs 3 to an extent providing for a reliable contact of the starter bar surface and plates with the surface of the pulling device is adjusted by the nut and bolt assemblies which are protected from damage by the rubber coating.

The plates 2 may be of various configurations such as bars and, the springs 3 may be replaced with pneumatic or hydraulic cushions or rings. The number of the plates 2 and the rigidity of the springs 3 are defined by a required force of friction between the starter bar and the pulling device, with the force being sufficient for the drawing out of an ingot.

This invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to the showings in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made therein so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal and adapted to be located between a mold and a device for pulling the starter bar and ingot, comprising a body provided with grooves; plates positioned in the grooves capable of movement in a direction transverse with respect to the body of the starter bar; a material possessing a higher coefficient of friction, as compared with the coefficient of friction of the material of the body of the bar, coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the bar opposite the plates; and resilient means within each groove pressing the plates against the surface of the pulling device whereby the coated surfaces of the plates and the body frictionally engage with the pulling device.

2. A starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal and adapted to be located between a mold and a device for pulling the starter bar and ingot, comprising a body provided with grooves;.plates positioned in the grooves and being capable of movement in a direction transverse to the length of the body of the starter bar; a material having a higher coefficient of friction. as compared with the coefficient of friction of the material of the body of the starter bar, coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the starter bar opposite the plates; and elastic members within the grooves pressing the plates against the surface of the pulling device whereby the coated surfaces of the plates in the body frictionally engage with the pulling device.

3. The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim I in which said resilient means in cludes a plurality of coil springs in each groove biased at one end against the inner face of the plate and at the opposite end against the base of the groove and means operably related to each coil spring for adjusting the spring.

4.'The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim 3 in which the material coating the 6. The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim 2 in which the material coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the bar opposite the plates is vulcanized sheet rubber. 

1. A starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal and adapted to be located between a mold and a device for pulling the starter bar and ingot, comprising a body provided with grooves; plates positioned in the grooves capable of movement in a direction transverse with respect to the body of the starter bar; a material possessing a higher coefficient of friction, as compared with the coefficient of friction of the material of the body of the bar, coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the bar opposite the plates; and resilient means within each groove pressing the plates against the surface of the pulling device whEreby the coated surfaces of the plates and the body frictionally engage with the pulling device.
 2. A starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal and adapted to be located between a mold and a device for pulling the starter bar and ingot, comprising a body provided with grooves; plates positioned in the grooves and being capable of movement in a direction transverse to the length of the body of the starter bar; a material having a higher coefficient of friction. as compared with the coefficient of friction of the material of the body of the starter bar, coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the starter bar opposite the plates; and elastic members within the grooves pressing the plates against the surface of the pulling device whereby the coated surfaces of the plates in the body frictionally engage with the pulling device.
 3. The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim 1 in which said resilient means includes a plurality of coil springs in each groove biased at one end against the inner face of the plate and at the opposite end against the base of the groove and means operably related to each coil spring for adjusting the spring.
 4. The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim 3 in which the material coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the starter bar opposite the plates is of rubber type.
 5. The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim 4 in which the rubber type material is vulcanized sheet rubber.
 6. The starter bar for use in a plant for continuously casting metal as claimed in claim 2 in which the material coating the outer surface of the plates and the surface of the body of the bar opposite the plates is vulcanized sheet rubber. 